The Long Road Home
by CodeMonkeyIsland
Summary: Re-post. Henrietta de Tristain finds herself lost in a world full of death, destruction and chaos. Her only option is to adapt to a new way of life, before this new world swallows her whole. While she tries to retain her humanity, Saito, Louise, Agnes, and Siesta find themselves in the same situation, as they search frantically for their Queen and a way home.
1. First

A/N: Some of you might remember this story that I posted a while back. I thought it felt too rushed, and I had barely planned any plot points so I decided to take it down and rework it. This first chapter is mostly the same as the first few chapters of the original posting, but there are quite a few differences. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

_The Long Road Home_

_FIRST_

Henrietta awoke violently, sitting upright and gasping for air. Her lungs filled with foul and musty air, causing her to hack and wheeze. Quickly looking around, she found herself unable to make out any of her surroundings. Hey eyes only met with complete darkness.

Suddenly the strong scent of death and decay flowed into her nostrils, causing her to bring a hand to her face in an attempt to physically block out the odor. She couldn't help but think of the obvious, and wonder what exactly was going on. She was in her own bedroom moments ago after a servant had helped her into her dress, was speaking to the leader of her personal guard and had only just wrapped her fingers around her wand when everything had become black.

She came to a sudden realization and immediately got on her knees and began searching over the cold, damp floor around herself. After a few moments of feeling around in the dark, her fingers bumped against something very familiar, her royal scepter, which was also able to double as a wand.

"Thank the Founder," she sighed quietly to herself, holding her wand close to her chest for a few moments. Then holding her wand outwards, she chanted a simple spell, forming a small ball of light at the tip of her wand that illuminated her surroundings with a warm glow.

Her eyes instantly met with the source of the horrid smell. A mere few meters in front of her laid the rotting corpse of a man, his eyeless sockets staring right back at her. She turned away, and tried her best to suppress the urge to vomit at the sight.

Henrietta eyed the small area her wand illuminated. She was in what appeared to be a tunnel, with a curved ceiling extended upwards enough for a reasonably tall person to stand, and a trench in the middle filled with murky, greenish-brown water, which emitted quite an overwhelming smell. Disgusting was one of the more tame words that came to mind as she glanced around, being careful to not let her eyes linger on the festering corpse for too long.

She shakily rose to her feet, and decided that the best course of action would be to traverse the tunnel in the opposite direction of the corpse. She set out, her wand held in front of herself to light the path, and only the sound of her shoes clicking on the stone floor filling her ears. Finding her way outside was her first priority, and then came the task of figuring out where in Halkeginia she had ended up.

'_This is most likely the result of a teleportation spell,' _Henrietta thought, stopping to grimace at a skeleton lying in her path that was missing most of its skull. _'But for what reason? To send Tristain into a panic?' _Stepping carefully over the skeleton she continued down the tunnel. _'Or was this just random?'_

Despite trying her best to remember anything after picking up her wand in her room, Henrietta drew a blank. The only thing she could remember after touching her wand was waking up in this tunnel next to a corpse. She glanced down at her white dress, mostly covered by her purple mantle that was now dirtied from the grimy floor. She frowned at the thought of having to put on another outfit, but shook the thought out of her head. Changing clothes should be the least of her worries right now.

After what felt like hours of walking in the dark, Henrietta reached an area where the tunnel split into a four way intersection. At first each direction looked equally dark and uninviting, until she eyed the tunnel to her right, where she pleasantly discovered that none of the foul water was flowing into. A fair distance away there seemed to be a torch lighting a small area. Squinting a little, she could make out what was definitely a door. Luckily, a walkway crossed the foul liquid running into the intersection, allowing her to cleanly cross despite a few groans of protest from the rusting metal.

As Henrietta neared the illuminated area, she noticed something was off. The torch did not flicker, or emit any sort of smoke which certainly seemed odd. What was even odder was that the torch was mounted on the ceiling. Stopping underneath the source of light, Henrietta found that what she was looking at wasn't a torch at all. She extinguished the light coming from her wand and eyed what appeared to be a small glass ball that was emitting a surprising amount of light, in the dark tunnel it soon became painful to stare at. Touching it didn't seem like the best of ideas, so she decided to turn her attention to the door.

It was large, made of what appeared to be solid metal and wide like a set of double doors. There also appeared to be no way to open it on the door itself. Henrietta sighed and leaned her back against the door. The entire palace had to be in an uproar by now, she knew her absence would be kept a secret from the masses for as long as possible, but the truth would come out eventually. She had to return as soon as possible. She couldn't imagine how her mother Marianne felt right now. Henrietta was the only thing Marianne had left since her father passed away.

Glancing at the strange glass ball of light once more, she turned around to face the door, but something caught her eye on the way. On the wall adjacent to the door, there was a small square indentation in the stone, which housed two small levers. One was very small and black, while the other was metallic and fairly large in size. There was a script written above and below the metal lever, which was currently in the up position, similarly the black was also in the up position.

Thankfully, she recognized the script written above and below the metallic lever, it was Albionese. The word above read 'Closed', while the word below read 'Open'. If she were indeed on the floating island of Albion, she was definitely more than a long walk from home. She decided to operate the black lever first, flicking it downward with her index finger.

The light emitting from the glass ball was extinguished, and Henrietta was left in complete darkness once again. Sighing in an odd mix of frustration and curiosity, she moved the black lever upwards, re-igniting the light source.

"How curious…" She mumbled aloud, moving to the next lever and moving it downward to the open position, expecting something equally as trivial. However, the moment the lever was set downward, the floor beneath her feet began shaking and a whining noise filled her ears. Jumping back from the switch and whipping her head towards the steel door, she was surprised to find it moving downward, sinking into the floor and revealing a night sky beyond it.

The door was halfway down when sand began spilling in. Taking a step back to avoid her ankles being buried, Henrietta saw that beyond the door the whole area seemed to be nearly buried in sand. The door set into the floor, and the whining ceased instantly. She looked back to the levers, and then outside again, wondering how the door was able to move with just the flick of a switch. If the people of Albion had things like this, it was certainly news to her.

Careful to avoid hitting her head, Henrietta exited the dark underground tunnels, and inhaled a breath of fresh air. Looking behind her, she found that the door was set into the bottom of a moderately high rock face, while in front of her the sand inclined upwards. Deciding to leave the strange door behind, she began trudging over the mounds of sand in front of her, hoping to get a better view of her surroundings at the top of the hill.

What surrounded her was a vast desert. This greatly disturbed her. There were no deserts in Tristain or Albion. She had almost begun mulling over all the possible deserts she could be in right now, when she noticed something even more disturbing when she happened to glance across the night sky.

There was only one moon.

Henrietta's jaw dropped. The beautiful pink and blue moons she had become accustomed to were absent, replaced by one small white moon, hanging gracefully in the sky amid a bed of bright stars. She sank to her knees, and placed a single hand over her mouth. Her stomach felt like it had turned to lead.

She knew she was in for a heap of trouble.

…

In the territory of Ornières, the sun had begun to descend from its place in the Halkeginian sky, bathing the rolling plains in an orange glow. A lone female rider pushed her horse to its limits, focusing only on her destination beginning to loom in the distance. Her sharp blue eyes narrowed in determination while her short blonde hair trailed in the wind.

Agnes Chevalier de Milan was in very big trouble. She was the Captain of the Musketeer Corps, who were tasked with the protection of Her Majesty, Queen Henrietta. Shortly after Henrietta's disappearance the entire palace had erupted in chaos, with Agnes at the center. She had been less than ten steps away from Henrietta when she was spontaneously sucked into a portal that had somehow formed behind her. Agnes wasn't fast enough to reach Henrietta in time, and only caught a glimpse of her lying unconscious on a stone floor in a dark passageway before the portal closed.

The entire situation was completely bizarre, and Agnes had spent her entire morning being yelled at by snotty nobles for being unable to properly protect the Queen. They made threats of exile, disbandment of the Musketeer Corps, and even promises of public execution if Agnes failed to return with Henrietta. Marianne had met with Agnes before she had departed from the palace, pleading her to bring her daughter back. The musketeer knew how much Henrietta meant to the former Queen of Tristain. The older woman's pleads had only added to the weight on her shoulders.

Agnes slowed the horse, and jumped off the animal before it had even stopped. The only mansion in Ornières stood before her, the home of a certain void mage and her human familiar. She reached the front door, not bothering with the knocker and pounded on the door with her fist. The door opened moments later to reveal a black haired girl dressed in a maid outfit, with a confused expression spreading across her features upon noticing who had come knocking.

"C-Captain Milan?" Siesta said, referring to Agnes by her formal title. "What brings you all the way out-"

"Siesta," Agnes interrupted, wiping some sweat from her brow. "I must speak to Saito and Louise immediately."

Siesta cocked her head in a confused manner. "I'm terribly sorry, but Saito and Louise are not here right now."

"Damn," Agnes cursed, gritting her teeth in frustration. "Where are they?"

"I-I'm not sure," Siesta admitted with some embarrassment. "Would you like to come inside and wait for them?"

Agnes didn't want to waste time, but aimlessly searching around for Saito and Louise wouldn't be very effective. Agnes nodded. "Very well."

Agnes was led into the parlor, choosing to sit on a rather large and comfy sofa.

"Would you like tea?" Siesta asked with her hands folded in front of her, keen on performing her duties as a maid of the Hiraga mansion.

"…Sure," Agnes replied hesitantly, watching the maid as she left the room. She rested her face in her hands and sighed loudly, having no choice but to wait for Saito and Louise to return.

Agnes heard the clink of a cup and saucer being placed on the table in front of her, but made no move to react, even when she felt a weight settle on the other side of the sofa.

"H-has something happened, Captain Milan?" Siesta asked timidly, knowing full well it was not the business of a simple maid.

"The Queen has gone missing," Agnes muttered from behind her hands.

Siesta's jaw dropped in shock. "W-what did you say!?"

Agnes removed her face from her hands and sighed bitterly. "Queen Henrietta has gone missing."

"Surely that is something that should not be told to a mere-"

Agnes held up a hand to silence the maid. "You would have found out eventually. You are trusted by both Saito and Louise, so I see no reason why you shouldn't know."

Siesta nodded her head and remained silent for a few minutes, unsure of what to say until a thought popped into her head. "Is it really a good idea just to wait here?"

Agnes sighed. "Saito and Louise could be anywhere in Ornières. If I were to search the entire territory I could easily miss them, so I'm going to wait for them here because I know they'll have to return eventually."

Siesta was about to reply when she was interrupted by the opening of the front door. Agnes froze in mid-sip of her tea. Both of their thoughts were confirmed when the voice of Saito Hiraga called out from the entryway. "Siesta!"

"I-In here!" Siesta replied.

Saito soon appeared in the door of the parlor, wearing his trademark white and blue hooded sweater, with his black hair a complete mess as usual. "Siesta, did you know that there's a horse…" Saito trailed off when he noticed Agnes sitting in his parlor quietly sipping on some tea. "Agnes? What are you doing all the way out here?"

Agnes placed the teacup onto the table and crossed her arms. "There is something I must speak to Louise and yourself about."

Saito looked confused for a moment until he noticed the grim expression crossing the musketeer's face, and Siesta shifting about nervously. "Has something happened?" Saito asked. Agnes replied with a simple nod.

"Right, I'll go get Louise," Saito said and quickly dashed from the room. It didn't take long for him to return with the short pinkette in question. She looked quite surprised to see Agnes and Siesta waiting for them. She and Saito sat on the sofa opposite Agnes and Siesta.

"What's happened Agnes?" Louise asked seriously, holding her hands together in her lap.

Agnes wasted no time in getting down to brass tacks. "Queen Henrietta has gone missing."

"A-are you serious?" Louise cried out in surprise, nearly leaping up from the sofa. Saito frowned deeply and sighed through his nostrils.

Agnes continued. "I saw her disappear right before my eyes. She was sucked into a portal just as she grabbed her scepter this morning."

"B-But how? Portals don't usually just make themselves!" Louise exclaimed, still in a state of shock at the news.

"I know that," Agnes sighed. "The portal closed before I was able to reach Her Majesty. It is my fault she is missing, and as Captain of the Musketeer Corps it is my duty to find her."

"So how can we help?" Saito asked, with an approving nod from Louise.

"I was hoping your void magic could be of use," Agnes answered, shooting Louise a glance. "I believe there's a spell called 'World Door' that can help us."

Louise thought for a moment. "Yes, but we need to know where Her Majesty has been taken in order to use it effectively."

Agnes nodded, and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm aware. I got a pretty good look inside the portal before it closed, although I'm not sure if that's enough."

Saito scratched his chin. "I only had to picture my world in my mind for Louise to be able to open a portal. I'm sure it can apply in this situation as well."

"Of course it can," Louise huffed, and then looked to Agnes. "As long as you can picture the place you saw in your mind I can open a portal. Even if it doesn't work and we end up in the wrong place, I can easily create a portal back to here."

"Well then we shouldn't waste any time," Agnes urged, about to stand.

"Wait," Louise stopped her with a raised hand, looking down at her lap. "There's a problem."

Agnes raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I've already used the World Door today," Louise admitted with a frown. "It doesn't use much willpower to open the door to a place in our world, that's just like teleportation, but Saito and I used it to go to his world this morning. It takes almost half of my willpower to open the door between worlds. Since we've gone to and from Saito's world I couldn't even cast Explosion right now if I wanted to."

"You went to Saito's world?" Siesta asked, looking interested. "What did you do there this time?"

"We saw this thing called a movie!" Louise chirped excitedly. "It's like a play, but…" Louise trailed off when she noticed Agnes annoyed expression. "I-I'm sorry."

Agnes shook her head with an exasperated sigh, waving a hand dismissively at the pinkette. "There's no way anybody could have seen this coming, it is no fault of yours."

"I'll be able to cast World Door after a good night's sleep," Louise explained.

"Alright," Agnes nodded. "I guess that's the best I can ask for. I just hope nothing bad happens to Her Majesty between now and then."

"What about the rest of the Musketeer Corps?" Saito asked, remembering that the unit Agnes led was actually quite a large group.

"Her Majesty's disappearance is entirely my fault," Agnes replied, her serious expression set in stone. "I've ordered the rest of the Musketeer Corps to remain at the palace. Her Majesty's disappearance must not go public."

Saito nodded. "I see."

"Tomorrow morning at first light, we should begin our search," Agnes said, eyeing the void mage and her familiar.

"Of course, we should all get some rest before then," Louise suggested, standing up along with Saito and Agnes who both nodded in agreement. "Agnes, you may stay in any one of our guest rooms."

They filed out of the room save for Saito, who stood in the doorway and looked over his shoulder at Siesta, who still remained seated. "Are you okay Siesta?"

Siesta's head snapped in Saito's direction, a large frown crossing her face. She stood slowly and walked closer to Saito, keeping her eyes on the floor and holding her hands behind her back. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Saito asked, crossing his arms.

"Well… it's just that…" Siesta began, gazing out a window at the now darkened sky. "Something always has to go wrong. You, Louise, and I can never just relax and be happy together."

Saito placed a hand on the maid's shoulder and gave his best shot at a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Louise, Agnes and I will find Henrietta and then everything will be fine. We've all been through worse." Saito could easily see that Siesta didn't buy what he said in the least, he didn't really buy his meager attempt at reassurance either.

Siesta scrunched her nose and looked like she wanted to say something, but decided against it and just let out a small sigh in its place.

"You should get some sleep as well, Siesta." Saito suggested. Siesta said nothing, only nodding and walking alongside Saito up the staircase, wishing each other goodnight as they entered their respective rooms.

As Saito closed the bedroom door behind him, he noticed that Louise was already in bed, appearing to be fast asleep. He walked past the bed and stopped in front of the window, looking out at the night sky and eyeing the large blue moon and its smaller pink counterpart.

'_We can't seem to catch a break can we?'_ Saito thought, glancing back at the sleeping girl in his bed. It had only been a month since he and Louise had gotten married, and gone to Saito's world for the first time so she could meet his parents. Saito smiled as he remembered the sheer awkwardness of the situation, and the chaos that ensued when his mother found out he was married after being gone for over a year. The reunion had been a long and tear-filled one. Saito had found that an unknown weight had been lifted from his shoulders when his family knew that he was alive and well. He had even visited many of his friends on subsequent visits to his world, who were shocked to see him again. Saito had promised his parents and friends that soon he would bring them to visit Halkeginia, and introduce them to everyone.

He stripped himself of most of his clothing and slid underneath the covers, facing Louise's back. To his surprise, she rolled over and looked at him with concern in her pink eyes. She said nothing, shuffling closer to bury her face in his chest. Saito snaked his arms around her in response, feeling her little breaths against his chest.

"Saito," Louise said, her voice slightly muffled.

"Hmm?" Saito responded, burying his nose into Louise's hair.

"Do you think…" Louise trailed, still thinking of what she wanted to say. "Why do these things always happen? It's been a while since you came to that battle with the Ancient Dragon in the…" Louise trailed again.

"Fighter jet?" Saito offered.

"Fighter jet…" Louise repeated, sighing into her Husband's chest. "Like I said, it's been a while since then but it only feels like yesterday. I can't keep going on crazy adventures like this. I'd do anything for Her Majesty, but I'm getting tired, Saito. If this keeps up I'll just burn out."

"Hey," Saito said, running a hand through Louise's hair. "Don't worry so much, we can handle this. When we get Henrietta back…"

Saito suddenly found himself cut off. "Her Majesty!"

Smiling, Saito continued. "Sorry. When we get _Her Majesty_ back, maybe we should go on a long vacation."

Louise scoffed. "Vacation? To where? Germania? Galia?"

Saito thought for a moment. "Lots of places. France, Spain, England, Canada, America-"

Louise cut Saito off. "I've never heard of any of those places, Saito. Are they countries in your world?"

"Yeah," Saito answered, nodding against his pillow. "I always wanted to travel, but I never had the chance."

Louise was silent in contemplation. "Not all places are like Japan… right?"

"Of course not," Saito responded. "What are you getting at?"

"I want to see the different countries of your world," Louise declared, seeming to agree with Saito's idea. "If they're even remotely as strange as Japan, then I want to see them."

"Strange?" Saito laughed. "This world is strange, not mine."

Louise huffed. "How is it? You have those screens that show plays as if they are in their own world, dreadful metal boxes that don't even need animals to pull them, and airships that zip around the sky, without even using windstones!"

Saito smiled and buried his nose in Louise's hair. "You mean televisions, cars, and airplanes?"

"You know that's what I meant!" Louise growled, shifting slightly. She released a sigh, craning her head to glance up at her husband, effectively dislodging his nose from her hair. "Your world is amazing, you know. I'm jealous."

"Yours is amazing in its own ways," Saito responded. "We should get some sleep."

Louise silently returned to burying her face in Saito's chest. "I know. I love you."

"I love you too."

…

It had become hot, incredibly hot. Henrietta's breathing was ragged and heavy as she neared the top of a hill. She had stumbled upon a roadway during the night, and had been following it for what felt like an eternity. The night had quickly melted into day, bringing an incredible heat with it. She had abandoned her purple mantle, and was now considering butchering her white dress into something with a little more ventilation as it was slowly becoming translucent, clinging to her body uncomfortably.

She reached the top of the incline, pausing for a few moments to catch her breath and gauge what lay before her. The hilltop was flat for about a dozen meters, before continuing downward again. She sighed in frustration, all of the climbing for no reason. However, her current position gave her a great view of what lay ahead of her. More empty desert.

Henrietta sighed. Her feet hurt tremendously and blisters had formed in many places. She stretched her back and looked down at the road beneath her, which stretched far ahead of her, continuing over many hilltops before eventually fading into the horizon. The surface of the road was dark, which undoubtedly attracted more heat, with a segmented yellow line straight down the middle that was almost completely faded away. Walking ahead a little, Henrietta noticed that a small building lay at the bottom of the hill.

After a few minutes of strolling down the steep hill, Henrietta stood outside the building. It appeared she had come across what had probably been a general goods store. That was her best guess at what it was before holes had been smashed through the glass windows, and the entire door had been ripped off its hinges. She approached the building hesitantly.

"H-Hello?" Henrietta called out, sticking her head through the doorway. She sighed as she got a good look at the interior of the building. At some point it had been completely ransacked, and judging by the empty shelves, it was thoroughly looted as well. Satisfied that the building appeared to be abandoned, she stepped inside, the sound of broken glass crunching underneath making her cringe.

She approached the store's counter and leaned her back onto the edge with her wand held tightly in both hands, still wary of her surroundings. She eyed the strange architecture around her. The floors were not stone, nor were the walls made of wood. She was about to observe them more closely when she heard something outside.

It was very faint, but she could hear what sounded like an angry growl coming from somewhere in the distance. She quickly peered through one of the holes in the dirtied glass, and saw something approaching in the distance, coming from the direction she had been heading in. Normally such a sound would be associated with a fearsome beast, but in this strange land she was expecting literally anything.

As the object neared and the growling grew more intense, she saw that whatever was coming her way was blue in color and was rolling on wheels. It grew closer at an alarming rate, faster than any horse she had ever seen. The volume of the growling decreased as the vehicle began to slow. It didn't take much thinking to figure out that it was going to stop at this building.

She observed the vehicle as it turned towards the building and came to a stop, with the growling noise reducing to a gurgle. It was not unlike a carriage from her world; however it was built quite oppositely. Carriages generally had the passengers on the inside, with the driver on the outside. This vehicle seemed to have the passengers sitting outside in the back while the driver was inside, protected from the elements.

The most striking feature of this carriage was that it was not pulled by any sort of animal. It seemed to move all on its own, creating a great racket as it did so. She eyed the men as they jumped off the back, three of them in tattered and worn clothing began to advance on the building carrying what appeared to be firearms, although she had never seen weapons like those before. Two men emerged from the inside of the vehicle, but seemed to have elected to wait outside.

Not wasting any time, Henrietta immediately decided that she needed to leave. Moving quietly away from the front of the store, she spied a wooden door at the back of the building. Praying it was an exit, she opened it to reveal a small closet with a mop, bucket and various foreign cleaning supplies inside. She whirled around to try and find another exit, but it was too late, the men were entering the building. She threw herself in the closet as quietly as possible and shut the door behind her.

She silently cursed herself over and over for getting herself trapped inside the store, knowing it was only a matter of time before she was discovered. She listened closely as the men browsed around the building, the crunching of glass or the sounds of their voices giving away their positions. Henrietta listened closely to their speech. It sounded like gibberish to her, causing her frown to increase in depth. The language these people spoke wasn't even close to Albionese. Henrietta looked down at her wand, turning it over in her hands a few times. She didn't want to hurt these people, but she knew that if it came down to them or her, she would have no other choice.

Henrietta's thoughts began to drift back to home. As a result of her disappearance, the entire palace would be in chaos. She bit her lip as she thought about how Agnes would surely be blamed for her disappearance, and would likely be hanged for failing to protect her. She bit down harder, reminding herself that she would most likely never see Saito, Louise, or any of her other friends ever again.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the door in front of her was swung open haphazardly. Henrietta felt her legs freeze in place as she observed the man in front of her. His hair was shaven closely to his head, with his skin glistening slightly in the low light. He wore a short sleeve shirt, which would have been white at one time if it wasn't stained with dirt and sweat. His blue colored pants were made of a strange material, with them being cut off at his knees.

The man loosely held onto a firearm unlike any Henrietta had ever seen before. It was completely made of metal, black in color, and looked like it had existed for quite a few decades as many patches of rust decorated the surface.

The man's rather bored expression immediately changed to one of great surprise. He fumbled for his weapon for a moment, before pointing it directly at Henrietta's face and quickly rattling off a sentence in his own language.

Before Henrietta could even think about how she couldn't understand anything the man said, he had grabbed onto her arm and violently pulled her from the small room which sent her reeling face first to the floor. Henrietta knew she had to act quickly.

The moment she hit the floor she rolled over onto her back and pointed her wand upwards at her attacker, an incantation on the edge of her lips. However the incantation was sucked back into her lungs as the barrel of her attacker's weapon was leveled directly at her face. She froze as she stared at the muzzle end of the weapon.

The man barked aggressively at her, pushing the weapon closer to her face, making the barrel seem like it was a mile wide. Her eyes darted around nervously as she noticed the two other men standing over her, holding similarly strange weapons.

The energy seemed to drain from Henrietta's outstretched arm as it fell to the floor, her wand rolling from her hand. It was quickly picked up by the man standing to her right, who seemed to observe it with great interest.

The man holding her wand spoke to the others, causing them the laugh and grin. The man before her pulled his weapon away from her face, offering her some relief. She sat up, not bothering to ask who they were or what they wanted with her. She looked up at the man who had just moved his weapon away from her face, who gave a short and haughty laugh as he looked down at her.

She turned towards the man who had picked up her wand, who now held his weapon backwards. Henrietta's eyes widened as she saw the butt end of the weapon come at her with incredible speed. She had no time to react as it connected with her head, sending her into the unpleasant land of unconsciousness.

…

"Saito."

Saito stirred in his sleep, mumbling incoherently. He knew he was being roused, but the warmth of his bed was far too intoxicating.

"Saito, wake up!"

Saito groaned and snuggled deeper into his pillow, nibbling and drooling on it as he fell asleep again, dreaming of eating an oversized marshmallow. Moments later he felt something cold and hard slam into him, jolting him awake. He cracked an eye open to find that he was on the floor, with Louise standing over him, dressed in her usual outfit with a serious expression adorning her features.

Saito frowned, rubbing his head. "Did I say something weird in my sleep again?"

"No," Louise shook her head. "Get dressed, breakfast is ready."

Louise briskly exited the room, her black mantle billowing behind her. Saito rose from the cold floor and yawned. Glancing out the window, he noticed that the sun hadn't risen yet with the sky just beginning to brighten. Saito decided it would be best to get a move on. He quickly threw on a pair of black pants, a white collared shirt and his blue and white nylon sweater. He was quickly considering ditching his sweater for something else, like he had already done to his white t-shirt, which had turned nearly completely yellow from sweat.

Saito romped down the stairs and entered the dining room to find everyone eating in silence. He took his seat next to Louise, directly across from Agnes and Siesta, and dug into the French toast that Siesta had prepared.

The atmosphere in the room was tense. Saito glanced around at his friends and wife, frowning upon noticing Louise and Agnes wore similar hardened expressions, while Siesta was emitting an aura of depression and anxiety.

Agnes glanced up from her plate and eyed Louise. "How are you feeling, Louise?"

"Apprehensive," Louise admitted with a small sigh. "But I'm willing to do whatever it takes for Her Majesty."

Agnes turned her gaze to Saito, who responded with a simple. "I'm ready."

Once they had finished their meals, Saito, Louise and Agnes began to file outside. Saito felt somebody tap his shoulder from behind just as he was exiting through the front door. He turned around to find Siesta holding a moderately sized backpack.

"Here," She said, holding the backpack out towards Saito, which required quite some effort from the girl's thin arms. "I packed some supplies. Water, bedrolls, rations and some other essentials."

Saito smiled and graciously accepted the backpack from the maid. "Thank you, Siesta."

"Please be careful Saito," Siesta said, frowning with concern. "I wouldn't know what to do if any of you didn't come back."

Saito gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Siesta was about to speak when she was cut off by Louise who stood impatiently next to Agnes. "Saito! We have to go!"

"We'll be back with Her Majesty soon," Saito said, turning and jogging towards the impatient pinkette.

"Be careful! Please!" Siesta called out, remaining in the doorway.

Saito reached Agnes and Louise, skidding to a stop on the wet morning grass.

"Let's get straight to work then," Louise said, brandishing her wand and holding it outward. She turned slightly towards Agnes. "Place your hands on my shoulders."

Agnes complied silently, and laid her hands on Louise's tiny frame. Louise closed her eyes and continued. "Picture the place you saw Her Highness, vividly as possible."

Agnes nodded and closed her eyes, finding that she was able to picture the dark tunnel she had saw with relative ease. Agnes felt the air around them condense and heat up. Keeping the image in her mind, she felt a ripple flow through the air, as well as a cool draft.

Agnes opened her eyes, her mouth falling open a little upon seeing the person sized oval hanging in the air, with the same dark tunnel she had witnessed Henrietta become sucked into on the other side.

"That's it," Agnes said, stepping around Louise and closer to the portal. "I'm sure of it."

Louise holstered her wand and nodded. "Well then lets…" Louise trailed as she felt the air around her rushing towards the open portal.

Agnes, sensing something was amiss, attempted to take a step backward from the portal, only to find the rushing air around her increase in force, dragging her towards the portal.

"Agnes!" Louise cried, grabbing onto the knight's arm. "This isn't supposed to happen!" Both of their feet began to drag across the ground.

Saito grabbed Louise from behind, halting their approach towards the portal. "Louise! What's happening?"

"I-I'm not sure!" Louise admitted, glancing over her shoulder. She let out a small shriek when she felt her feet being dragged along the ground again.

"We have to pass through the portal anyway!" Agnes called out over the rushing wind. "Let go!"

"But!-" Saito began, but was cut off when he felt somebody grasp him around his waist, halting their approach once again. Saito looked down to find Siesta holding onto him. "S-Siesta! What are you doing!?"

Before anyone could speak again, the portal seemed to grow agitated, and kicked its suction into overdrive. Everyone's feet left the ground, and they were pulled through the portal almost instantaneously, landing in a heap on the other side.

The portal snapped shut, leaving them in complete darkness and silence. That is, until Louise opened her mouth as she tried to untangle herself from her friends.

"Siesta! What were you thinking!?"

"I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to…"

"Don't you realize that I have to send you back now!? This is too dangerous for you!"

"But I-" Siesta abruptly cut herself off with a high-pitched scream. "W-Who's touching my…"

"Sorry!" Agnes apologized quickly as she jumped away from the maid. "I didn't see…"

Louise groaned as she sat up. "What am I sitting on? It's incredibly uncomfortable."

"My face," Saito replied, his voice muffled by Louise's bottom.

"O-oh! Sorry!" Louise yelped, quickly moving away from Saito. She instinctively reached for her wand on her thigh, but to her dismay found that it was missing.

"My wand! Where's my wand? I can't see!" Louise cried as she frantically began to brush her hands across the floor. She let out a small groan mid-search and pinched her nose. "By the Founder, what is that stench?"

Saito groaned as he stood, pinching his nose as well. "I can see why Her Highness decided not to stick around." Saito strained his eyes in the dark, finding it impossible to see anything at all.

"Louise," Agnes called out from the floor. "I believe I've found your wand."

"Hand it here."

Siesta's eyes suddenly went wide with fear in the dark. Everyone's voices were coming from in front of her. She felt her blood run cold as she sat on the cold stone floor. There was another presence in the tunnel.

"H-Hold on!" Siesta called out in a fear laden voice. "If you're all over there, then who's behind…"

The tunnel was suddenly bathed in a dim light from the tip of Louise's wand. Siesta looked down, directly into the eyeless sockets of a festering corpse, which caused her to let out the shrillest scream she had made in her entire life.

She was up on her feet in an instant in into the arms of the person closest to her, who at the moment happened to be Saito, and began babbling into his chest.

"W-what was… why is th-that…? What k-kind of place are we…"

Saito absentmindedly patted the girls head while his eyes lingered on the corpse for a few moments, before he more than willingly tore his eyes away.

Agnes drew her sword and approached the corpse and studied it over for a few moments, before turning towards the others and speaking. "He's been dead for quite a while." She then pointed the tip of her blade at the neck of the body, where two large holes resided side by side. "However, what killed him may still be around."

"We should get a move on then," Saito said seriously, detaching the still fretting Siesta from his chest. Agnes nodded, sheathing her blade.

"We'll start in the opposite direction of this body," Agnes said, eyeing the corpse once more. "I'm sure Her Majesty would have done the same." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Louise and Saito can lead the way. I'll keep at the rear."

They wordlessly got into formation and began traversing through the tunnel with Saito and Louise at the front side by side lighting the way, Siesta nervously on their heels, and Agnes stoically bringing up the rear. Saito frowned as he led the group with Louise, wishing Derflinger was ready and able. The consciousness of his old sword still resided in his ruins, but it rarely spoke up anymore. Saito knew he would feel more comfortable holding some sort of weapon in his hands, as much as he disliked the notion.

Louise groaned as they came up on a skeleton. "What kind of place are we in?"

"Don't know…" Saito replied, careful not to disturb the bones. He eyed the foul water flowing down the middle of the tunnel, frowning at the overpowering odor. "A sewer maybe?" Saito's frown deepened as he thought for a moment, trying to remember if there were any sewers in Tristain.

He cut his thoughts short when they reached an area where the tunnel branched off into three different directions.

"To the right," Agnes suggested. Saito and Louise peered down the tunnel in question, delighted to find that it ended in an opening, no doubt leading to the outside world.

"Well let's get out of here," Louise said eagerly, briskly crossing over the water via a rusty walkway. The others were quick to follow, more than ready to breathe some fresh air into their lungs.

Saito's eyes locked on to a very familiar object hanging from the ceiling, emitting a fair amount of light. _'Is that a light bulb? Oh man.' _Saying nothing, Saito hurried ahead of the group, and was outside in a flash.

"S-Saito!" Louise called out, quickening her pace upon noticing the light bulb as well. "Where do you think you're going!?"

Reaching the opening, Agnes let out a low grumble. Sand had spilled in through the opening, and from what they could see, there was much more waiting outside.

Siesta eyed the musketeer over her shoulder. "What is it?"

Agnes gave the sand a look of contempt and spoke flatly. "I don't like sand."

Louise ducked through the opening after Saito, trudging clumsily through the loose earth. She turned and eyed Siesta and Agnes. "Come on! We're probably just on a beach or something!"

Agnes huffed, and made her way outside along with Siesta. The sun appeared to be beginning to rise as it peeked over the horizon, bathing the sky orange. They hurried to the best of their abilities through the sand and reached Saito and Louise, who were resided atop a sand dune.

Agnes eyed their surroundings darkly, seeing sand in every direction for miles.

"Beach huh?" She growled, eyeing the pink-haired mage.

Louise ignored Agnes and looked up at her familiar, who seemed to be in a daze.

"Hey, Saito!" She said, tugging at his sleeve. "What's the matter with you?"

He said nothing, and merely pointed towards the sky. Louise followed his gesture and paled upon seeing a single white moon hanging in the sky. She turned towards Agnes and Siesta, who were both wearing similar expressions of astonishment.

"EH!?" Siesta was the first to break the silence, stepping forwards past Saito.

Agnes walked to Saito's side, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Do you have any idea what…"

Saito spoke quickly, his eyes never leaving the sky. "We're in my world."

"Seriously!?" Siesta whipped around, eyeing Saito eagerly. "Are we close to your home!?"

"No," Saito replied flatly, his expression growing grim as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Her Majesty is lost in a desert, in a world she knows nothing about. This is bad."

Siesta's expression fell. "B-but Her Majesty is a skilled mage! She can surely defend herself."

"Yes! Why do you doubt Her Majesty's abilities as a mage? Remember when she almost killed you that night when Prince Wales was…" Louise was on her way into one of her tirades, when Saito quickly cut her off.

"I know, I know," Saito groaned, crossing his arms. He eyed the area around them, noticing indentations in the sand leading away from them. He quickly pointed at them, looking towards Agnes as he spoke. "Look, those could be her footprints. If we're lucky they could lead us right to her."

"We have nothing else to go on," Agnes sighed, her mouth drawing into a thin line. "Lead the way."

"Right," Saito nodded, adjusting the heavy backpack Siesta had given him. "But first things first."

Louise raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Saito gave Siesta a stern look. "We're sending you back home."

Siesta looked like she was about to put up a fight, but Louise interjected, reminded of the maid's presence. "This is no place for you! You should be thankful that you're going to be out of danger, while we're in this dreadful looking place."

Siesta deflated. "Very well."

Louise, not intending on wasting any more time, quickly held her wand out and began to fiercely concentrate on their mansion. She felt the familiar feeling of a World Door being created. However, it felt a little off, almost as if there was something blocking her.

A shower of black sparks shot from Louise's wand, each of them popping as they hit the ground like firecrackers.

"Waah!" Louise jumped back from the noise, bumping into Saito. Siesta and Agnes eyed the display with raised eyebrows.

"Uh," Saito began, scratching his head. "What just…"

"I-I just messed it up a little is all!" Louise exclaimed fiercely, leaping forward and attempting the spell again. To her dismay, she was met with the same results.

"Louise are you…" Saito took a step towards her, but immediately took two backward when she turned and growled angrily at him.

"I AM FINE!" She pointed her wand towards the ground some ways away, and yelled. "EXPLOSION!"

What resulted could hardly be called an explosion, and was more akin to a fart. The tip of Louise's wand sparked and spat out grey smoke, with a rather unflattering noise. The group gave Louise a concerned stare.

"Louise what's-" Saito began, but was abruptly cut off when Louise aimed her wand at him, and began levitating him into the air. "Hey! W-what are you doing!? You know I hate being levitated!"

"It's just as I feared," Louise said crossing her arms, allowing Saito to land rather harshly on his bottom. "I knew something was wrong the instant I opened that first portal. Something in this place is blocking my void magic, but any non-void spells seem to work fine."

"Great," Saito groaned, rubbing his sore rear as he rose to his feet. "Looks like you get to stay Siesta."

Siesta's expression remained in its concerned state, but Saito could tell from the glint in her eyes that she was positively elated. Saito frowned, wondering why she would be so happy to stay in a place like this, just after practically being thrown on top of a maggot infested corpse in a dark sewer.

"We should move," Agnes suggested. "Looks like the sun is beginning to set."

The group attempted to eye the sun, only to find it had dipped below the horizon.

"But the sun hadn't even risen when we left…" Siesta trailed, staring at the single moon as it became more prominent in the sky.

Saito shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We haven't got any more time to waste." He began to follow Henrietta's footprints, which were merely faint dips in the sand by now, quickly fading with every gust of wind.

Louise stared for a moment before starting off after him. "W-wait up!"

Agnes gave Siesta a sidelong glance. "Let's go."

Siesta nodded in response, walking alongside Agnes. She was excited that she finally got to be on one of the big adventures she was always left out of. However, something at the back of her mind was nagged at her, begging her to be wary of the dangers that were to come.


	2. Second

_The Long Road Home_

_SECOND_

"Where do you think we are?"

Saito turned to look at Louise. Frowning, he spoke. "It's impossible to tell."

Louise frowned even more, glaring up at Saito as they trekked across the desert. "That wasn't the response I was looking for."

"I know," Saito said, waving his hand back and forth in front of his face. "But how can I tell where we are? We're just in the middle of a desert."

Louise sighed, throwing a glance over her shoulder at Siesta and Agnes who were a little ways behind them. They had been following the remnants of Henrietta's footprints for what seemed like an eternity. However, the moon still hung high in the night sky, indicating that maybe only a few hours had passed at the most.

The sand made walking much more difficult that it should have been, and Saito was beginning to understand why Agnes held such an extreme distaste for the loose terrain. Saito stopped Louise as they reached the top of a small sand dune, pointing at something in the distance.

"Look, I think it's a road," Saito said. The black asphalt almost appeared as if it had been drawn on a canvas, jutting out against the sand. Saito wasn't sure if he should be elated, or filled with dread. The road would surely lead to some sort of civilization eventually, but just how 'civil' civilization was in a place like this remained to be seen. "Her Majesty's footprints lead straight towards it."

Louise nodded, and allowed herself a small smirk. "I'm sure Agnes will be thrilled."

"I bet," Saito smiled, turning around to face Agnes as she and Siesta approached, with the latter working up a fair sweat trudging through the desert sand in what Saito had always considered an over the top maid uniform.

Saito decided not to comment on Siesta's physical fitness as she wiped sweat from her forehead, opting to inform Agnes of the road instead. "You're going to be thrilled."

"Why?" Agnes asked simply, raising her eyebrows in curiosity.

"There's a road," Saito said, gesturing over the hill. Agnes' eyes seemed to flash dangerously as she approached the top of the hill with renewed vigor.

"If you're joking, I'll kill you." Agnes reached the top of the hill, and hummed in confusion upon seeing the black strip streaking across the desert. "That's a road?" She wasted no time in making her way down the hill, towards solid ground. The others quickly pursued her, just as eager for a solid path underfoot.

Saito was the first to speak as they caught up with Agnes. "Can we stop for a few minutes?"

Agnes eyed Saito for a moment before nodding. Saito wasted no time in plopping down on his rear and removing one of his shoes.

Louise gave him a scrutinizing look. "What exactly are you doing?" Her question was immediately answered when Saito turned his shoe upside down, with a torrent of sand flowing out of it.

"I have the same problem," Siesta commented, copying Saito's moves.

Louise let out a small sigh and decided to sit down next to her husband, and empty her shoes of the meager amount of sand that managed to collect within them.

She rested her head on his shoulder, looking up at the stars. "This would be much easier if Her Majesty had just… stayed put."

Saito hummed in agreement. Siesta spoke up, shaking her head. "But wouldn't we still be stuck here because Louise's magic doesn't work?"

Louise eyed the maid darkly, glaring daggers towards her.

"She's right," Agnes sighed, choosing to sit down with her knees against her chest, "Even if we find Her Highness, we're stuck here."

Louise let out an exasperated sigh, burying her face in Saito's sweater. "After all this time, I'm back to being Louise the Zero."

"Quit it," Saito grunted, ruffling the thick pink mop atop Louise's head. "We should just focus on finding Henrietta-"

"Her Majesty!" Louise quickly corrected, her voice muffled by Saito's shirt.

"Yeah, sorry. We should focus on finding _Her Majesty_ because her safety is what's important right now. We can worry about getting back home later." Saito continued, his expression growing dark. "We could be in the middle of some dangerous war-torn desert right now."

Siesta frowned upon hearing this news, and eyed Saito curiously. "I remember you saying your world was a peaceful place, without any war."

Saito thought for a moment, attempting to dig that particular conversation out of the recesses of his memory. "My country, Japan, has no war, along with many others. But some places are not so lucky."

"Well that's…" Agnes began, but found herself trailing off when her ears picked up a bellowing growl in the distance, a growl that was quickly approaching. She turned around and looked behind her in the direction the sound was coming from, "What… is that?"

Saito's eyes immediately widened, and nearly bugged out of his head when he saw a pair of lights appear on the road in the distance, growing closer at an alarming rate.

"Get off the road!" He yelled, leaping to his feet and dragging Louise behind him. He pointed to a group of withering desert shrubs. "Hide in the bushes! Quickly!"

The others, despite having no idea what was coming towards them, followed Saito closely, diving into the sand around the plants which offered practically zero concealment.

"We'll be spotted for sure," Louise hissed in Saito's ear.

"It must be some kind of beast… making noises like that," Siesta squealed, gripping Saito's arm.

Saito remained silent, his eyes locked on the approaching pair of lights. As they approached, Saito could make out the definite shape of a long and angular car, but any details such as color, or the number of occupants were lost in the darkness.

The car passed quickly, its red tail lamps disappearing into the darkness just as quickly as the headlights had appeared, leaving only a fading single pitch growl in its wake.

Saito rose from the poor excuse for a group of bushes, and brushed the sand from his clothes. "That was pretty clo-"

Saito was immediately cut off as Agnes grabbed the front of his sweater and pulled him towards herself, bringing him mere inches from her face.

"What the hell was that thing?" Agnes' expression landed somewhere between enraged and hopelessly confused.

"A-a car!" Saito replied, craning his head backwards in an attempt to put some distance between their faces. Agnes' unchanging expression was telling him to continue.

"I guess you could say it's a self-powered carriage," Saito explained. Agnes released her grip on his sweater and groaned. She began making her way back to the road while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Saito's world is filled with things like that," Louise said, following behind Agnes. Louise had a basic knowledge of the technology in Saito's world, but asking her the specifics of how any of it worked was completely out of her league.

Siesta tugged at Saito's sleeve as they returned to the road. "There are really… carriages with no horses?"

"Yeah," Saito nodded, looking up and down the road. "Louise nearly cried the first time she was in one."

He let out a small snicker, but immediately sucked it back in as Louise whipped around and came at Saito with fists flying, making hard contact with his arm. "I DID NOT!"

Saito laughed for a moment as he failed to dodge her following blows. "How can you ride a flying dragon and not blink an eye, but be terrified of cars? They're completely safe."

Louise crossed her arms and turned away, seeing that her punches were ineffective. "I don't trust those machines. A horse is much more reliable. What if something goes wrong in the machine and it goes out of control?"

Saito was about to counter when Agnes cut him off.

"Are you two done?" Agnes eyed the two flatly with hands on her hips. She pointed at Henrietta's footprints that let them to the road. "Seeing as Her Majesty approached this road at an angle, she must have gone in this direction." Agnes pointed in the same direction the car went, with a frown gracing her features.

"Well then I guess we should get going," Saito said, starting off in the direction Agnes indicated, with any evidence of laughter disappearing quickly.

Louise quickly caught up to Saito to walk at his side, while Agnes and Siesta hung back a few meters. They continued in silence, with Saito throwing glances around periodically at the others. He spoke only to suggest that any further encounters with vehicles should be dealt with by leaving the road immediately, which was met with silence from Louise and Siesta, and a grunt of agreement from Agnes.

Louise thought hard as they slowly ate up the miles on the desert highway. She knew about many of the technologies of Saito's world, and experienced a few of its weapons first hand such as the Zero Fighter, the pistol that Julio had given Saito for his fight against King Joseph, and the amazingly ridiculous fighter jet Saito had brought from his world to fight the Ancient Dragon.

They were in a world run by technology. Louise inwardly shuddered as she thought about what powerful weapons must exist, and the fearsome militaries that must deploy them. She remembered a time when Saito explained that countries in his world absolutely dwarfed Tristain in comparison, and that their militaries would be able to completely dominate all of Halkeginia.

It made Louise's patriotic side itch in agitation, however Saito knew more of his world's military technologies than she did, so he was probably right. All Louise had managed to do with that train of thought was to increase the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Louise moved her thought processes to focus on her legs as they began an ascent up a large hill. She could hear Siesta's breaths come out ragged and heavy from behind her, and her own were quickly becoming the same. The night air was cool, but she knew the daytime would only bring intense heat. She felt repulsed as she thought about how her white shirt would become translucent and sticky, with an unflattering odor emitting from her underarms.

Louise glanced over her shoulder at Siesta and Agnes. Agnes seemed to have no trouble at all, not even a single bead of sweat visible on her forehead, while sweat was dripping down Siesta's face at a steady rate. If she was suffering in that maid outfit now, she would keel over and die during the day.

Like Agnes, Saito seemed to be having minimal trouble ascending the hill. Louise's harsh chores at the Tristain Academy of Magic, and long strenuous adventures across all of the lands of Halkeginia had quickly whipped him into reasonable shape.

Reaching the top of the hill, Saito noticed something on the horizon that hadn't been present before. He quickly searched the sky, noting that behind them it was still black, dotted with stars with the moon hanging lazily as it had been all night. He turned his gaze back to the sky in front of him, a part of the horizon to their right was beginning to glow a light shade of red.

Saito turned to Agnes who was also observing the small patch of red.

"There's no way that's a sunrise, right?" Saito asked, unsure if he had completely lost track of the passage of time.

"No," Agnes shook her head. "It's impossible."

Siesta stared at the sky in trepidation. "You don't suppose that it is… some sort of strange weather?"

All eyes instantly turned to Saito, who scratched his chin in thought.

"It could be… a city in the distance?" Saito suggested without a hint of confidence in his voice. Louise walked a small distance away from the group. The top of the hill they were on was only flat for a short distance, before sharply descending.

Louise's eyebrows shot up as she spotted a small building at the bottom of the hill, she immediately turned towards the others.

"Hey! There's a building over here!"

Saito, Agnes, and Siesta shot over like a trio of bullets, following Louise's pointing finger with their eyes. Sure enough, a small building rested at the foot of the hill, sitting on the left side of the highway.

Saito turned towards Agnes. "Think we should check it out?"

"I do," Agnes answered with a nod.

They made their way down the hill at a slightly quickened pace with Louise and Siesta at the rear. The group reached the building rather quickly, slowing to a stop upon noticing the condition of the structure.

The dirtied windows were nearly impossible to see through, only the numerous holes in the glass allowed any moonlight inside. The door was ripped from its hinges, which lay discarded on the ground.

Agnes drew her sword as she approached the entrance and stopped on the left side of the doorway, motioning for the girls to stay behind her, and Saito to stand on the opposite side of the doorway. She peered in through the doorway quickly and glanced around the interior of the building.

She pulled her head out and glanced over her shoulder at the girls and spoke in a hushed tone. "I'll take the left side, Louise you go straight down the middle. Siesta, stay close to Louise." Her gaze then turned on Saito. "You take the right."

Saito's nod was all that was needed for Agnes to give her order. "Go!"

Agnes entered first, veering to the left side of the building onto the other side of a group of disheveled shelves. Saito was quick on her heels, quickly splitting off to the right, past a cashier's counter and multiple ruined displays. Louise advanced through the middle of the building with Siesta nervously following on her heels. She used her wand to emit a small ball of light, lighting the narrow area with shelves on either side.

They all reached the back of the building nearly simultaneously, eyeing each other as they emerged from the cover of the shelves.

"I guess this is some sort of… general goods store," Louise wondered aloud, glancing around at the empty shelves. "Or more accurately, _was_ a store. This place is completely empty."

Louise glanced over towards Saito, who was moving to open a slightly ajar door at the back of the building.

Agnes eyed Saito. "You do not know what might be in there!"

Saito swung the door open, jumping sideways with a surprised yelp as something came towards him.

Louise went into action instantly, ready to defend her husband with her life. She stopped a few meters short of what had fallen from the room, her wand leveled and an incantation on her lips.

Saito noticed Louise and let out a short burst of laughter. He bent down and picked up what had fallen to the floor, and held what appeared to be a dirty old mop in front of Louise.

"That was close, I could have died," Saito remarked dryly, smirking at Louise who only crossed her arms and glared.

"So that's the thanks I get for coming to your defense? The next time a beast pounces towards you while you're weaponless I'll sit back and watch!" Louise huffed, jumping a little when Agnes placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, right," Agnes remarked. She motioned behind her with her thumb towards where she had been searching. "There's also another door."

Saito nodded, walking past Agnes who was at his side in an instant. Saito eyed the door that was also set into the back wall of the building. "Hopefully this isn't another janitor's closet."

Saito gripped the doorknob, rubbing his thumb over the rusted surface for a moment before throwing it open. Agnes and Louise quickly brushed past him into the pitch dark room, Agnes with her sword at the ready, and Louise holding her wand out to illuminate the area.

Saito peered into the room. From what was illuminated from Louise's wand, he determined that it must have been some sort of break room for the store's employees with a wooden table in the middle and various electrical appliances and a sink on a counter on the left side of the room, none of which were likely to work.

Saito glanced over his shoulder at Siesta who stood nervously behind him, and motioned for her to enter the room. She did so quickly, seemingly happy in the light of Louise's wand. Agnes stood by one of two doors on the right side of the room, motioning Saito over with a flick of her head.

Saito looked over her shoulder as she pulled open the first, revealing an empty storage room. The second was revealed to be a small washroom. Saito ventured inward, twisting the knobs on the sink to test if there was working plumbing. He frowned when nothing flowed from the faucet.

"Well," Saito began as he exited the bathroom. "Looks like there's nothing here."

"I never expected much from the place," Agnes stated, sheathing her sword and moving to the room's entrance to keep an eye on the outside.

Saito nodded in agreement, crossing his arms. They were all silent for a few moments before Louise spoke.

"Saito," Louise started, continuing when Saito glanced in her direction. "Is there any water in that giant backpack?"

Siesta quickly spoke before Saito could so much as open his mouth. "Yes of course! I packed a large metal canteen."

Saito nodded, setting the backpack on the table. He stretched his back in relief, scrunching his nose in irritation as the back of his shirt clung to his back, damp with sweat.

As Siesta dug through the backpack to retrieve the canteen, Agnes called out to Saito without turning around. "Saito… I think you should see this."

Saito raised an eyebrow as he eyed the comically large canteen that Siesta had dug out of the backpack, now knowing the source of all the weight. He silently hoped Louise was really thirsty as he turned his attention towards Agnes. "Why, what is-"

Before Saito could say anything else, what sounded like an ear-splitting clap of thunder tore through the air, causing everyone to yelp in surprise.

"Whoa…" Agnes trailed, staring out the doorway in a daze.

"Whoa?" Saito asked, making his way towards Agnes. "What do you mean whoa?"

Saito's question was answered when he noticed red light was filtering in through the broken windows at the front of the store. He jumped at the sound of another thunderclap. Saito brushed past Agnes, through the run down store, stopping only when he was completely outside.

The small patch of red Saito had witnessed earlier had grown, now at least five times larger and was emitting dark clouds _upward_ into the atmosphere. Every half minute or so, a bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds, followed by an ear-splitting clap seconds later.

"What is…" Louise trailed, leaving her mouth hanging open in awe. Saito glanced around to see that the others had joined him, looking just as awestruck as Louise.

Agnes suddenly placed her hand firmly on Saito's shoulder. "Since this is your world, do you mind explaining what exactly we are looking at?"

Saito shook his head slowly, wincing as he felt the wind beginning to pick up. "I have… no idea. I've never seen anything like this before in my life."

Louise tugged at Saito's sleeve, looking up at him with worry in her eyes. "Do you think something may have happened in your world while you were absent?"

Saito shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't exactly pay attention to the news when we were in my world." Saito felt a lead weight form in his stomach at the thought of the news. He was sure the Japanese Self Defense Force caught him on camera stealing the fighter jet he used to help defeat the Ancient Dragon. His biggest reason for not wanting to stay in his world for extended periods was that he was sure the JSDF would eventually catch up with him, expecting some answers, along with their expensive killing machine.

However, he was sure some strange anomaly like this would be plastered all over every television screen and newspaper, so it would have been almost impossible to miss it. He couldn't help but wonder where exactly they were.

"Perhaps Siesta was right about it being some sort of weather," Agnes said, noticing the sand being kicked up by the increasing wind. "We should head back inside."

"But what about Her Majesty?!" Louise exclaimed dramatically. "We can't just waste our time sitting around while she's somewhere in this dreadful place by herself!"

Agnes gave the girl a sharp look. "Wandering around in a foreign storm won't help anybody. We need to take shelter until it passes."

Louise huffed and crossed her arms, obviously displeased. "Fine." She followed Agnes inside, Siesta not far behind.

Saito took one last look at the brewing storm before he headed inside the abandoned store with the others, wondering what exactly had happened in his world while he was gone, or if he was even in his own world. He frowned as he entered the break room, closing the door behind him. If they were all in a world that wasn't Louise's, and wasn't his own either, where exactly could they have ended up?

…

The first thing that became evident to Henrietta as she returned to consciousness was that she was in pain. Her head felt like it had been put through a meat grinder and her mouth was dry from dehydration. She groaned and tried to place her hands on her head but found she was unable to. Henrietta cracked open her eyes to see what was going on.

She was lying on her side, on a dirty mattress that looked older than she did, with her hands bound by rope around a rusting metal pipe.

She stared at her binds for a few moments before observing her surroundings. The room was brightly lit, consisting of the mattress she was laying on, along with two others along the back wall, a few desks, shelves, some filing cabinets were lined along the right wall, and one desk sat in the middle of the room hat faced away from Henrietta. The entrance to the room was on the opposite wall, with a door that didn't appear to have a doorknob. The white colored paint on the walls was old and cracked, peeling off the walls in some places. The only other distinguishing feature of the room was the window on the wall to her left, which led not to the outside, but to another room which was dimly lit.

The only thing she could see in the other room was the high ceiling, with few working lights hanging from steel support beams. She gave her surroundings another once over, eyeing the strange architecture and light sources. She quickly realized she was in a terrible situation.

Whoever was holding her here certainly didn't have good intentions, that much was obvious to her from the fact that she was lying on a disgusting mattress bound to a pipe. Her hands were not tied to the pipe itself, but merely tied together on the other side. The pipe was only about two inches in diameter, so she pulled against the pipe with her binds, unfortunately finding that it was firmly in place and didn't plan on moving any time soon. The pipe extended from the floor and disappeared into the ceiling, turning her head she saw that there was another at the other side of the room.

Due to her magical affinity of water, she could feel it within the pipes, flowing water. She could conjure her own easily, but it would require much less willpower to use water that was already there.

She felt a pang in her chest and her stomach dropped. The water was no use to her if she had no wand. She took a detailed look around the room, eyeing the shelves and desks over and over. Her wand was nowhere to be seen. She also noted that the familiar weight of her crown had disappeared.

She frowned and gritted her teeth, remembering the men who captured her and knocked her out. They had probably pawned off her wand and crown for quick money. Selling stolen wands was not uncommon in Tristain, it was illegal, but very profitable depending on who the wand had belonged to. However, the men who had her wand now were probably planning on selling it merely because it was shiny.

Henrietta didn't have a clue what she was going to do without her wand. She wasn't much use without it. Magic-wise, she was quite strong as a triangle class mage, but physically she was weak. Being that she was royalty, and a mage, physical exercise wasn't part of her daily routine. There was no need for it. Many nobles had grown lazy and obese from this mentality.

Henrietta froze and broke off from her thoughts, hearing footsteps approaching from outside the only entrance into the room.

She visibly jumped as the door opened. It didn't swing open like a door normally would. Instead, it slid quickly into the wall with a slight hiss. Two men entered the room, one with a ridiculous mohawk that touched the top of the doorway as he walked through it. He wore only a bulky combat vest and a pair of shoddy pants and boots. He was carrying a large stack of folders in his hands.

When the second man came into view, Henrietta felt her empty stomach turn and knot. He was the same man that had found her in the abandoned store, his shaved head still shining with sweat and his clothes even dirtier. What made Henrietta feel especially sick was that he was dragging a limp and nude female body by a steel collar around her neck.

He walked across the room with the body, carelessly discarding it on the mattress next to Henrietta. She gawked at the body for a few moments, thankful the head was turned away so she didn't have to see her lifeless eyes. The man chuckled, sparing Henrietta a sidelong glance along with a toothy grin as he walked over towards his friend who was sitting at the desk and facing away from her, sorting through the folders.

Henrietta knew she was the topic of the conversation as the man with the shaved head gestured in her general direction and spoke with an edge of desire in his voice. Henrietta's legs closed tight together instinctively, knowing exactly what he wanted to do to her.

The man with the mohawk looked up from his papers and gave his friend a disapproving look while shaking his head, before returning to the papers on the desk. The other man shrugged, sliding a drawer open on the desk, and pulling out a long slender object from it: Henrietta's wand.

The wand's owner nearly leapt off the mattress, prevented from doing so by the ropes confining her to the pipe. Both men noticed this fairly easily, and each let out a short bout of laughter as Henrietta sunk to her knees.

The shaven man placed the wand on the surface of the desk, and made his way towards Henrietta. She moved onto her backside, shuffling backwards to create space between the man and herself.

As he set one foot on the mattress she shrieked. "Stay away from me you uncivilized beast!"

The man stopped his advance for a moment, confused by the foreign language spouting from Henrietta's mouth. He apparently paid it little mind, grabbing Henrietta by the chin roughly he closed in on her. That is, until Henrietta's leg shot upwards like a rocket, her shin burying itself into the man's nether regions.

He stumbled backward, letting out a growl of pain. The man with the mohawk looked over his shoulder, noticing his friend clutching his crotch in agony. His mohawk shook furiously as he roared with laughter.

The shaven man shouted at his friend, and turned back to Henrietta and cocked his arm backward, and sent his fist flying forward to make contact with Henrietta's cheek. The force sent Henrietta's head flying sideways into the steel pipe she was bound to, letting out a whimper of pain as she slumped down against the wall.

The shaven man hobbled past his still laughing friend, and sat atop one of the desks along the wall, looking as if he was going to throw up.

Henrietta rested her head on the pipe, the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. She wondered if this was going to be her end, raped and killed by two poor excuses for men. She gritted her teeth, and decided at that moment that if she was going down, she was going to put up a hell of a fight.

Henrietta jumped as she heard a third new voice come from thin air. The man with the mohawk quickly spun around in his chair, grabbing a device from his vest and speaking into it.

He abruptly stood up from his seat, causing the chair to roll a few inches backwards on its tiny plastic wheels. He strode towards the door, punching a code into a small pad on the wall which caused it to hiss open. He motioned for his shaven companion to follow, who reluctantly got down from the desk he was perched on and hobbled after the man with the mohawk.

Henrietta could see them getting lower with each step, obviously descending a staircase. She had very many things on her mind at that moment, such as where had that voice come from, how did that man open the door without touching it, and how was she going to get out of here before she was violated and killed.

She rose to her feet to get a better look out the only window in the room, feeling her binds snag slightly on the pipe as she moved her hands up. Curiosity getting the better of her, she knelt back down to inspect the pipe.

A spot on the backside of the pipe was rusted in such a way, that the rough surface was perfect to fray the ropes that bound her hands together.

Henrietta grinned, quickly moving her binds up and down the pipe, watching the ropes fray at a slow rate, but at a rate nonetheless. She would have quite an interesting surprise waiting for that man once he returned if she could fray the ropes quickly enough. Once she had her wand, a simple dot level water spell could easily send the men straight back down the staircase with enough force to break bones.

To her dismay, Henrietta could hear footsteps approaching once again. Cursing silently to herself, she moved into a sitting position, doing her best to act as if she had been doing nothing for the past few minutes.

Both men strode through the door as it slid open, this time with the shaven man carrying a black briefcase instead of a nude body.

The man with the mohawk sat at his desk again, and began quickly flipping through the folders as the other man set the briefcase down on the floor beside the desk and moved to look over his friends shoulder.

'_Perfect,'_ Henrietta thought as a bloodstained smile formed on her face. _'They're distracted.'_

Henrietta continued sliding the ropes up and down the pipe at a much slower rate, watching the ropes slowly fray through. She ran her eyes over the desk the two men were at, making sure that her wand still rested on the surface. If they were still in the room when she was freed, she could make a dash for her wand and take them by surprise. Looking the men over, they didn't appear to be armed but she knew weapons could easily be concealed.

She had to work quickly and quietly if she had any chance of making it out of this situation. She immediately froze as the shaven man grabbed the briefcase from the floor, and began to make his way towards the door.

He was only a few feet away from the door when a deep and rumbling explosion rocked the building, causing him to stumble. He whirled around to look as the man with the mohawk as a few chips of plaster fell off the ceiling. The man with the mohawk barked something furiously, causing the shaven man to stumble back towards the desk, deposit the briefcase half-heartedly, and make his exit as quickly as possible.

Henrietta was still frozen in place, wondering if it was even possible for her situation to get any worse. She jumped as lighter pops and cracks filled her ears with a sound that she hadn't missed at all, gunfire. It was gunfire like she had never heard before, shots repeating time after time, some at a quick and steady rhythm, while others were a little more haphazard. There would have to be hundreds of musketeers to create the same volume of fire.

The man with the mohawk got up from his chair, brandishing a pistol he had retrieved from a drawer in his desk. He stepped towards the window, which seemed to have been his last mistake. Somebody outside the room must have taken notice of him, and had decidedly sent many screaming projectiles through the window and the man's body. They landed in the wall, spurting out chalky dust from the drywall.

Henrietta had shrieked, and made herself as small as possible in the corner of the room. She was successful in avoiding being hit. She stared at the man as he hit the floor, horrified. Blood oozed from wounds on his torso and a gaping hole in his head, slowly creating a pool underneath him on the floor. Henrietta continued to stare wide-eyed at the body for a few moments, before turning her attention back to fraying her binds. She knew that if she didn't work fast enough, she was going to suffer the same fate.

As the ropes were nearing their breaking point, Henrietta pulled hard against the pipe, separating her binds with little difficulty. She nearly whooped with joy at this development, even more so when the gunfire seemed to come to an abrupt end. The ropes were still tied around her wrists, but she was now free of the confines of the steel pipe. She made for her wand, feeling insurmountable relief flow over her as she wrapped her hands around it.

However, that relief was immediately sucked away just as fast as it came when Henrietta heard heavy footsteps approaching, stopping just outside the door. Henrietta held her wand at the ready, all of the water flowing in the pipes at her disposal. She was determined to not be caught off guard this time.

Henrietta jumped backward a few feet as a huge dent was put into the door with a thundering boom, then another, and another. The next blow saw the door separated from its tracks and blown into the room, with Henrietta narrowly avoiding being flattened.

Henrietta's determination to not be caught off guard fell completely flat when she laid eyes on what entered the room.

The source of the heavy footfalls appeared to be a man in a hulking suit of armor. Flat black armor, dotted with scratches and nicks that revealed the glinting metal underneath covered the man from head to toe. It reminded Henrietta of the armor the Mage Knights wore in the Tristainian army with its broad shoulders and helmet that swooped down around the ears and reached the jaw line. Covering the man's face was a metallic mask with rectangular eyes that glowed an eerie white, and cylinders jutting outward on either side of his mouth like two antennae.

The more Henrietta observed the man, the more she was beginning to think that it wasn't a man at all and just some kind of strange golem. Henrietta's eyes drifted down towards the large weapon being held at the hip of the hulking suit.

The dark wooden grips, angular black steel, a glinting chain of what Henrietta could only assume was ammunition and a smoking barrel certainly intimidated her, but she wasn't about to back down. She aimed her wand at the armored man, confident she could best whoever this armored person was with her magic.

The man moved to raise his weapon to his shoulder, but Henrietta had different plans. The pipes behind her ripped open, with gallons of clear water flowing out and snaking into the air above her head, ready to strike down the man before her. The man paused in raising his weapon, looking up at the water in awe.

Henrietta wasted no time in showing off. The two streams of water combined and rocketed towards the armored man, hitting him square in the chest with the force of a freight train. His weapon was torn from his hands as he was thrown off his feet and through the doorway he had just came through, his wide armored shoulders denting the doorframe on both sides.

Henrietta rushed quickly towards the door with another blast of water at the ready. Peering out the doorway she found that she had sent the man down a fairly lengthy set of steel stairs. He now lay in a heap at the bottom, completely motionless. Henrietta knew that is was very unlikely that he was dead, only unconscious, and she didn't want to be within a mile of this place when he woke up. She let her wand drop to her side, the floating snakes of water splattering to the floor.

Ducking back into the room, Henrietta searched for anything that could help her. Rummaging through the desks and shelves, yielding only books and papers that she couldn't read, although the characters were essentially the same, they were arranged in a way that only spelled out gibberish to her. She frowned. The Albionese script she had seen earlier in the tunnel was nowhere to be found.

She eyed the weapon that the man had been holding, now laying discarded on the floor. To her it was an ugly thing, representing only death. It was certainly far more advanced that the muskets of the Tristain military.

Using her wand, Henrietta manipulated some the water that was now freely flowing out of the pipes to float in front of her face. She eyed the liquid warily, unsure if it was sanitary for her to drink. Her thirst overpowering her better senses, she directed much of the water into her mouth and drank hungrily. With that taken care of, she set herself to another task.

Reaching down to the bottom of her skirt, she began ripping at her dress, tearing long strips and discarding them onto the floor. If she was going to go back into the desert, she certainly wasn't interested in suffering it out in what she now felt was ridiculous attire. She butchered her dress ruthlessly, imagining her seamstress growing red in the face and fainting at the sight. She felt a small smirk tug at her mouth at the thought.

Her skirt now ended just above her knees with her white leggings exposed for the world to see. The ends of her skirt were jagged, loose threads hanging nearly everywhere. She started on her long sleeves, tearing at them to end above her elbows. She'd probably butcher her dress even more once she stepped out into the sunlight.

With her wand gripped in her hand firmly, she moved towards the exit, eager to leave. However, there was something quite out of place that caused her to stop dead.

The man she had send tumbling down the stairs was missing. Henrietta immediately felt her blood run ice cold. The man had entered the room with the gracefulness of a rhino, but managed to disappear without a sound. She was baffled at this, and backed into the room with her wand aimed at the doorway, knowing full well that an attack was imminent.

It was only mere seconds later when the attack came. Henrietta ducked as she heard a thundering crash from behind her with bits of plaster and wood hitting her back. She whirled around as she heard heavy footfalls fast approaching her, but it was too late. The armored man was back, this time electing to create his own entrance to the room instead of using the original one.

The armored man was literally on her in milliseconds, wrenching Henrietta's wand from her grasp with immense strength. There was no time for Henrietta to react as the man struck her in the chest with an open palm, sending her flying across the room and into the wall. She slumped against it, her face contorted in pain as her back and chest flared.

With Henrietta's wand now in the man's possession, he knew she was defenceless, although he hadn't the slightest clue what exactly he was holding. He decided on the most direct approach to find out, holding up the wand as he spoke. "What the hell is this thing?"

Henrietta's eyes went wide as she kept her back to the wall. The man was speaking Albionese, although it had a strange accent to it. Nevertheless, she was easily able to understand him. His voice seemed to also be altered by the mask he was wearing, sounding deep and robotic.

Sighing at the lack of an immediate response from Henrietta, he suddenly tossed her wand towards her. Surprised, Henrietta reached out and clumsily caught it, gripping onto it for dear life. She eyed the armored man suspiciously as he picked up his own weapon from the floor. He leveled the barrel in her direction, causing her to bring up her wand just as quickly. Henrietta hadn't the slightest clue what the man was doing until he jerked his weapon in the direction of the only door in the room.

"Go on. Get out of here," he said, surprising Henrietta yet again. He was letting her go, rather than killing her. She knew she should be elated, and her legs should be moving like lightning to get out of the room as quickly as possible. She stayed put instead, looking to the door, and back to the blazing white eyes of the man's mask. She knew this could be her only chance to get information, and to hopefully get help.

"U-um…" Henrietta stammered, unsure of how to address this man. She spoke in Albionese, which she didn't use very often. "Excuse me?"

"Oh so you can talk," the man responded, sounding agitated as he lowered his weapon slightly.

"Yes, I can talk," Henrietta said carefully, making sure not to trip over any words. However, to the man in front of her, who was ignorant to her Tristianian roots, it made her seem a little unintelligent. "Do forgive me. My name is Henrietta de Tristain, and I am truly sorry if I did you any harm earlier."

Even though Henrietta couldn't see the man's face, she could gauge how flabbergasted he had become when he let his weapon droop limply in his hands.

"This definitely isn't the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me," the man began after a few moments of silence, eyeing Henrietta's out of place attire, and violet hair. "But it's up there, for sure."

Henrietta cocked her head. "I'm sorry?"

"Well…" the man began, trailing off as a set of footsteps began thundering up the stairs. He hung his head slightly. "Oh man."

"Richard!" A young woman burst into the room, brown ponytail flying behind her like a tracer, whipping around violently as she ground to a halt. Her bright green eyes were clouded with concern as she eyed the man that was apparently named Richard, struggling to catch her breath. She didn't seem to notice Henrietta when she entered the room.

Unlike the elaborate armor Richard wore, the woman's outfit was much simpler. A black t-shirt was covered by a tan colored combat vest, with matching pants and black leather boots. She gripped a firearm that was completely black in color, and much sleeker than Richard's, an AR-15 rifle. There were a multitude of extra magazines for the weapon stored in her vest, as well as a sidearm on her right thigh, with extra magazines for that on her opposite leg. Black kneepads protected the appropriate joints, while pads on her elbows performed a similar task.

Richard placed his own weapon on the nearby desk, a PKM machine gun, and eyed the new arrival. He spoke, ignoring the concern written clearly on his companion's face. "So the downstairs is clear?"

The woman finished catching her breath and shrieked at Richard. "Your armor's life signs went completely fucking dead!" The woman displayed an object strapped to her forearm, a small screen displaying information in real time. She groaned in agitation at Richard when he said nothing. "Yes! Downstairs is clear for fuck sakes! What the hell happened anyway?"

Richard said nothing still, merely gesturing towards Henrietta. The woman turned her head, surprised upon seeing another woman standing in the room.

"Wah!" The woman exclaimed, stumbling backward a few steps while clumsily shouldering her rifle. Henrietta immediately raised her wand in response.

Richard sighed and walked over to the distressed woman, forcing her rifle downward with one hand. "Sasha, relax."

Henrietta lowered her wand. "I do not mean any harm."

Richard let out a short, haughty laugh through his mask. "Yeah, could have fooled me."

The woman, named Sasha, glanced between the two. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"Forget it. I'll explain later," Richard began as he walked to the desk and picked up the briefcase that had been sitting on the floor. "We've done enough screwing around."

He placed the briefcase on the desk, and begun working at something on the back of his neck. Soon, the mask came free from his face, leaving only the heavy looking helmet on his head. He glanced in Henrietta's direction after placing his mask on the table as well. She noticed his piercing brown eyes and what appeared to be stubble growing on his face. She couldn't see much more since the helmet cast a shadow on his face from the overhead lights.

Richard observed the briefcase closely, finding that it was locked. Not wanting to risk damaging anything inside by simply smashing it open, he began to rummage through the nearby body's pockets for a key.

Sasha eyed Henrietta warily, still keeping a firm grip on her rifle. "So who are you?"

Henrietta glanced down at the rifle, and then back up at Sasha, getting a good look at her features. She was a petite woman, with dark skin that reminded Henrietta of the von Zerbst girl that had attended Louise's school. Freckles dotted her cheeks, and her green eyes shone brightly with curiosity. When the woman before her spoke, her Albionese was greatly accented, in a different way than Richard's. "My name is Henrietta de Tristain."

"That's… quite a name you have there," Sasha remarked with raised eyebrows, letting her rifle hang by her side loosely.

"I suppose," Henrietta sighed, noticing Richard ruthlessly searching the pockets of the dead man, despite his gory state.

Sasha nodded mostly to herself, still looking Henrietta over. "So what's up with that dress? It looks like you tore the shit out of it." Sasha motioned to the scraps from Henrietta's dress on the floor. She then pointed to her head with her free hand. "And what's going on with that hair?"

Henrietta cocked her head, she knew the dress was extremely out of place in this kind of environment, but what was wrong with her hair? "I know the dress is strange, but what's wrong with my hair? Is there something in it?"

Sasha eyed Henrietta as if she had three heads. "It's purple?"

"It always has been," Henrietta said slowly with an air of confusion. "Is that strange?"

Richard abruptly stood up straight, having found no key he knew he was going to have to pick the lock. He gave Henrietta a quick glance. "Yes it is actually."

He then threw Sasha a glance and smiled sheepishly. "You don't have any lock picking tools by any chance do you?"

"I do," Sasha announced, retrieving them from a small pouch on her belt. As she handed them to Richard she nudged him with an elbow. "Aren't you glad I showed up now?"

He shook his head. "Nope." Richard crouched down by the desk, getting to work on the lock.

"Whatever," Sasha muttered, glancing at the dead body on the mattress and scrunching her face in disgust. She turned to Henrietta. "So you're okay?"

Henrietta looked confused for a moment before responding with a dismissive flap of her hand. "Oh yes, I'm fine."

"Who gave you those?" Sasha asked, indicating Henrietta's forehead and cheek.

Henrietta grazed a hand over her forehead, wincing as her fingers ran across dried blood. When she had been hit on the head by the men in the old store, it must have torn open a gash on her head. Her cheek must have been showing injury since been hit on the face. She shook her head, frowning. "I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea who he was."

"Yeah right," Sasha huffed, tossing a glare at Richard. "It was totally you! Didn't your mother teach you not to hit women?"

Richard shook his head, not looking up from his work and spoke dryly. "No, my mother taught me how to shoot straight and fix cars. Besides, she was the one who sent me down a flight of stairs and broke the transmitter sending you my suit information. I didn't do anything to her, other than give her a little shove."

Sasha's mouth hung slightly agape as she turned towards Henrietta. "How did you manage to push him down the stairs?" She gestured towards the armor Richard was wearing. "He weights nearly four hundred pounds with all this stuff on!"

Henrietta's eyes widened. She had to wonder how he could even move with such heavy armor.

"She used that thing she's holding," Richard stated, cursing as he failed to pick the lock. "It did some weird shit to the water in those pipes." Richard gestured towards the water spraying from the pipes, which would soon flood the entire room and leak out the doorway.

"Magic," Henrietta stated, not feeling happy about her magical prowess being referred to as 'weird shit'.

Richard paused and shot Henrietta a glare. "Magic? Don't mess around. I really want an explanation for that." He returned to his work with a grumble.

"Where are you from, Henrietta?" Sasha asked, glancing down at her wrists which still had ropes around them. "I take it you didn't come here for a vacation."

Henrietta shook her head and thought for a moment. She had no idea how she was going to explain that she was from a completely different world, with two moons, fantastic creatures, and that was practically run by magic. From Richards's less than enthusiastic reaction, she was easily able to assume there was no magic in this place.

Henrietta frowned, remembering when Saito had told her a story about how he was from a different world, with no magic or nobles. She hadn't really believed in it at first, but when she had witnessed him first hand appear from a huge portal in the sky in a ridiculously fast flying machine, she felt inclined to believe his story. She sincerely hoped that this dreadful place wasn't the world he was from.

"Well?" Sasha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh… well uh," Henrietta began, unsure of what to say. "I don't really…" Henrietta trailed with a frown, still unsure of how to explain.

"I get it," Sasha said, her mouth drawing into a line, she abruptly turned to Richard, placing her free hand on her hip. "We're taking her with us!"

Henrietta's mouth fell slightly agape, intent on telling the girl before her that they didn't have to do such a thing for a stranger. Richard fumbled the lock pick at hearing what Sasha said and glared at her darkly. "We're taking her with us? Sasha we don't even know the woman, besides I'm a mercenary, not a damn babysitter. I don't have time for that."

Sasha began waving one of her arms furiously, while the other gripped her rifle. "Don't be such a fucking asshole! You're always complaining that there's no good left in this fucking world, and as soon as the chance to do something nice for somebody who's just lost and has nowhere to fucking go, _and_ was nearly raped by a bunch of retarded slavers, you just say that…" Sasha continued in a deeper voice to mock Richard. "_I'm a mercenary not a babysitter!"_

Richard cut her off with a groan, placing his face in an armored hand. "Okay, okay!" He gestured towards Henrietta with the lock pick. "We can take you to where we live, so you can explain how you really pushed me down those stairs with a bunch of floating water. Then _maybe_ I'll consider letting you stay with us for a while. But don't expect to be a freeloader."

Henrietta bowed graciously. "I will gladly explain. Thank you very much."

"See? Doesn't it feel good to be nice?" Sasha teased, moving to Richard and gently pushing his helmeted head forward.

"Sasha, fuck off and let me open this thing," Richard groaned. The brunette only laughed in response, glancing at Henrietta and giving her a wink. Sasha's little tirade reminded Henrietta of Louise, although she was a much more vulgar than the tiny mage would ever dream of being.

Richard grinned as the briefcase popped open. "Got it!" He opened it quickly, the contents quickly turning his smile upside down.

"Oh shit," Richard said warily, standing up and stepping back from the briefcase.

"Oh shit?" Sasha repeated, worried. "What is it?" She stepped closer to Richard, getting a full view of the briefcase. Her eyes went wide with fear. Henrietta moved as well, eyeing the contents of the briefcase. None of it made sense to her, but to Richard and Sasha it seemed to be a big deal.

"It's a bomb," Richard began slowly, freezing as a number appeared on a small display. "I think I armed it by opening it."

"What!?" Sasha shrieked. "Then let's get the fuck out of here!"

Richard sighed in relief after observing the display for a few moments. He pointed at the bomb. "Look, it's set for like 25 minutes, we've got loads of time to get out of here."

The timer began counting down, and Richard and Sasha noticed something weird. The number had changed dramatically. Sasha narrowed her eyes at the bomb. "Now its 15?"

"What the hell?" Richard remarked, seeing that the next number the timer displayed was 05. The display changed again, and both Richard and Sasha had no idea what to make of it. "Six – h minutes?"

Richard eyed the bomb in confusion for a moment, until he 'ah'd' in realization. "I see what's happening here."

"What is it then?" Sasha asked with a huff.

"Whoever put this bomb together messed it up," Richard explained, shaking his head in disapproval. "They put the timer in upside down. It wasn't set for 25 minutes, it was 52 seconds."

The three of them eyed each other in silence for only a fraction of a moment before Richard sprung into movement. He snatched up his mask and machine gun and ran for the door without saying a word. Sasha did the same moments later, grabbing Henrietta by her arm and dragging her out of the room.

Henrietta barely had time to observe the downstairs area of the building, noting that it was only a large open area with rows of towering shelves made of metal. It seemed that the place was some sort of storage warehouse, now littered with bodies. They made for a large hole in the wall where the main entrance previously resided, and emerged outside.

The first thing Henrietta noticed was that it was night again. The cool air felt pleasant on her skin, but her new surroundings didn't put her at ease like she hoped they would. They ran down a road with towering buildings on both sides and old rusted out cars littering the street. The buildings seemed to be in a state of disrepair. Some windows were boarded up, while others had gaping holes blown in them and some had even crumbled to the ground long ago. Everywhere she looked there were tiny holes dotting the surfaces of the buildings, there was no doubt that many gunfights had taken place on this street.

It wasn't long until an explosion tore through the night, shaking the ground beneath their feet. The trio skidded to a halt, turning to observe the explosion as they had gotten a fair distance away from the building. The bomb had blown out half the building on the side it had been located in, causing the roof and remaining walls to collapse to the ground in a quickly expanding cloud of dust.

"Wow," Richard commented as he walked over to the girls, having gotten much farther ahead. "That definitely wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be."

"Better safe than sorry, I guess," Sasha remarked as the dust rolled up the street and surrounded them.

"I've never had…" Henrietta spoke up, struggling to catch her breath. "…Such a ridiculous experience in my entire life."

Sasha gave Henrietta's shoulder a pat. "We have to get moving. It's about a two day walk from here to get to our place."

Henrietta nodded and followed behind Sasha and Richard as they started off down the road again, at a much slower pace. She smiled, thankful that her situation had drastically improved.


End file.
